The Best Lies are Based in Truth
by Younger Dr. Grey
Summary: Post-S3. When Jack's brought into police custody, Emily comes up with his alibi. After all, nothing says "not guilty of kidnapping" like a secret fake date story. / It's Emily, Jack, and the fake dating trope!


**The Best Lies**

**Summary: **Post-S3. When Jack's brought into police custody, Emily comes up with his alibi. After all, nothing says "not guilty of kidnapping" like a secret fake date story. / It's Emily, Jack, and the fake dating trope!

**Notes: **I named Baby Carl's babysitter Camille. This picks up almost immediately after S3 ended.

You can also find this fic on tumblr and AO3. My name's the same on everything.

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><p><strong>The Best Lies (are Based in Truth)<strong>

Jack fights the urge to drum his fingers on his legs. That seems like the kind of thing a guilty person would do to keep himself occupied while he waits for his lawyer. Though, to be fair, Jack is guilty of helping Charlotte's kidnappers, and Emily is the closest thing to representation he's calling tonight. She's his alibi after all, even if it is a shaky one.

After Jack set Charlotte free and Conrad got arrested, their little revenge squad worked out a plan for if anything ever came up about the kidnapping. They doubted anything would, not with the way that they covered their tracks, but if it did, then they'd say Jack and Emily were together, Nolan was home trying to steal MyClone, and Aiden was hanging out on Nolan's couch. They never worked out all of the details, just enough to give each of them something to say until their cover got there.

Now, Jack's said as much as he knows — he and Emily were out on a boat the morning after Charlotte got kidnapped, alone, no contact in or out except for one check in with the nanny. They took off early in the morning and were both at the beach house when the news broke. Simple, but apparently not enough for Detective Hosko.

Hosko's nice enough, just another tall blond detective guy. He said he works homicide normally, so Jack's not completely sure why he's the one babysitting, but at least that means they get to sit at Hosko's desk rather than inside the interrogation room again.

"You want a water or something?" Hosko holds a bottle out to Jack. Only Jack's seen enough cop shows to just shake his head instead of accepting.

"Not really thirsty," Jack says.

"Well, who knows how long it'll take for Ms. Thorne to get here, might as well wait comfortably, right?"

As if the police station could ever be comfortable for Jack. Jack came in here day after day to get these cops to look into what happened to Amanda. These cops are the same ones who accused Jack of smuggling drugs through the Stowaway. The same people who didn't bat an eye when people broke into his home. (Of course the people breaking in were Aiden and guys from the Initiative, but the support would've been nice.)

Jack rolls his shoulders back and grumbles, "I'm fine. No thank you."

Hosko shrugs. "Suit yourself." He leans back into his own chair and opens the water bottle. "Tell me, how's a guy like you wind up with Emily Thorne anyway?"

Emily? She's what Hosko's attention is about?

Hosko kind of backtracks. "Not like _with her_ with her, but you know." He sips from the bottle then lifts it conversationally. "I mean, she did marry a Grayson."

Yeah, the worst Grayson. Daniel's the only one in that family who would actually try to kill his lover himself instead of waiting for someone else to finish the job. He shot Emily twice in cold blood, not that anyone would ever believe that at this point. Daniel shooting Emily sounds about as believable to the general public as Jack kidnapping Charlotte would sound to the patrons at the Stowaway.

Or, apparently, as believable as Jack catching Emily's attention.

Jack explains, "My dog loved her," because it's the simplest way to say it. That way, there's no Amanda, no juvie records to dig into, and no terrorist history to dredge up. Just Sammy. Jack smiles. "He used to show up at her beach house in the middle of the night. She'd always bring him back to me at the bar the next morning, and we started talking from there." And when Sammy died….

Hosko saves Jack from going down that road again.

"That was years ago, wasn't it?" The bottle's down on the desk. Hosko peers forward. "What's the connection now, Jack? You're not exactly running in the same social circles."

Jack folds his arms across his chest.

"And you're not exactly subscribing to US Weekly right now. No offense, but how about we hold the gossip?"

Hosko lets that hang in the air a second before lifting his water back up. "Your loss." He sounds a bit more casual, a bit less pointed. "I'm great at swapping stories."

Yeah, well, Jack's already given him an alibi. That's enough of a story for now.

Jack scans the open precinct around him. Anything to avoid watching Hosko watch him. Though, Hosko's face does light up after a few seconds. Jack almost asks why until he hears Emily's voice from behind him.

"Jack?"

Hosko's smile brightens. Jack bites down a groan. This guy really is into Emily, isn't he?

Jack turns to look her way, but it's not just Emily rounding the edges of desks and cubicles. His kid's in her arms. He jumps up, steps to walk to her, but Hosko holds a hand out to keep Jack in place.

Carl shifts in Emily's arms as she rushes over. He looks tired, too much to even know where he is. At least that means Jack won't have to explain anything to him later.

"What happened to Camille?" Jack asks. A few heads turn to him, but he keeps his focus on Emily.

"She's got an essay to finish, and Nolan's not answering, so," Emily bounces Carl a bit as she stops in front of Jack, "the little guy's with us."

Hosko cuts in, saying, "What a great place to have a kid."

Before Jack can even think of something to say to that, Emily's rounding on Hosko. She almost looks like Amanda for a second — Jack's Amanda, not kid Amanda — with the flared nostrils and firey eyes and both arms holding Carl against her chest.

"Well, he'd be home if you weren't still keeping Jack for no reason."

Jack adds, "And you only gave me one phone call."

Hosko chuckles, gaze back on Emily. "Seems to me like you picked the right person to call." His smile's practically flirty, but he drops it once he doesn't see a change in her. He clears his throat. "You gonna back up his alibi, Miss Thorne, or are you just here to distract me with that socialite smile?"

Emily scoffs.

Jack says, "Can you not flirt with her right in front of me?" Hosko's brow raises. Maybe Jack shouldn't have said that. He adds, "I already told you, man; I took Emily out on a boat to help her get over her fear of the water. She's got the receipts for everything."

Emily opens her purse at that. With one hand supporting Carl, she searches around inside the bag. Hosko peers down at her.

Hosko says, "If you took her, why does she have the receipts?"

"I paid," Emily says. "How revolutionary." She pulls a few folded papers out and hands them over to Hosko. "That's our rental information, with the time stamps for when we left and came back. We were on the water for five hours, then we came back to land so I could get anxiety medication. You remember what happened then."

The look she gives Hosko fills in the connection for Jack. This is the cop who stopped Emily that day, the one who questioned her about Pascal's murder.

Hosko nods. "I do. Doesn't explain where Jack was for the rest of the day."

Emily shifts her weight, clears her throat. "He was at my beach house."

Hosko's eyebrows start crawling again. "The one right next to Grayson manor."

"The one that's private and a good place to unwind," she says.

"From your boating lesson?"

Her teeth grind a moment. "From our date." Jack's head snaps to fully face her. She keeps her eyes on Hosko. "Please don't spread this around. Jack just broke up with Margaux, and with my messy divorce from Daniel, it's not something we want out there right now."

Hosko glances between Emily and Jack. "A date really. Your sister-in-law gets kidnapped, and you go on a date."

She ruffles at the implication. "I didn't know Charlotte was in trouble when we left."

"Right, because you and the Graysons aren't on the best of terms," Hosko hedges.

Emily's eyes narrow. "Are you questioning me now?"

He shrugs. "Should I be?"

Jack steps in, his hand rising to rest on her back. It's closer than he's been to her since Aiden died - since before this whole kidnapping honestly - but neither of them have the time to react naturally. She calms slightly at his touch. Good, good for all of them.

"Emily's alibi is the same as mine," Jack says, "So, if there's nothing else, we're gonna go."

The plural use helps too. United front and all.

Hosko clicks his tongue a few times. "By all means. I'm just surprised you aren't more shaken up. What, with your relationships to the victim." Emily bristles at the word choice. Hosko looks to Carl. "Charlotte's that kid's niece after all." Back to Jack. "But you two seem like you don't even care what happened to her."

"Of course we care," Jack says.

"Do you? Imagine how that must've felt. She was abducted, blindfolded, _tortured_ by the accusations that her father killed all of those people."

Just like Emily. The same girl tensing at Jack's side with every word.

Jack tries defusing, saying, "Conrad did do it."

But Hosko asks, "And that makes it okay? That makes what Charlotte went through excuseable?"

"Of course not!" Emily snaps. Carl stirs, and Jack takes him and sets him down in the chair.

"It just seems-"

"It _seems_ like you want to get a rise out of us. Jack and I are not the issue here. Charlotte had her whole world ripped from around her. But you act as if that only happens to girls like Charlotte. What do you think happens to girls like Amanda Clarke? When they get locked away for believing in their fathers and then _murdered_ before they get the chance to see that they were right all along? Or girls like me who-whose parents die when they're little and have to readjust to everything and suck at it because there's no one there for them anymore! This isn't just about Charlotte! It's about every little girl who gets their lives and their dreams ripped away from them."

Emily shakes her head, huffs, "So don't tell me how Charlotte must feel because I've already lived it."

A silence creeps in when she's done. No rebuttal from Hosko, no comfort from Jack, and nothing but stares from everyone within hearing distance. The great Emily Thorne cracking at the seams.

She glances back from Hosko to the people around them. "Excuse me."

She walks away. Jack glances at Carl for a second before following after her, Hosko be damned.

"Emily!"

She stops at the sound of her name, but she's by the elevator by then. Far enough away where there's space between them and a still stunned Hosko. Her turn's slow to face him. Head facing down, eyes closed, Emily's practically shaking, and he can't really tell if it's an act or not anymore.

"Emily."

It's more of a murmur this time, a plea for her to look at him. When she won't, he steps closer, arms raising to wrap around her. She moves into them without a moment's hesitation. This is the act speaking, right? All of this emotion spilling from her, the comfort she's finding in him, that's calculated?

Does it even matter? If he likes holding her, likes feeling her breath in that space where his shirt doesn't quite touch his neck, does it matter if this is real?

Her breath shudders, and she sniffles even though his shirt's still dry. She whispers, "I can't do this, Jack. I can't talk about this."

He tucks his chin over her head. "Then don't. I'm not a cop or anything, but I think he'll leave you alone now."

Another sniffle.

"Almost," she says.

His brow furrows, then she pulls back and peers up into his eyes. Then down to his lips. Then back. Even before she arches up to kiss him, he gets what comes next. So, when she does meet his lips, he kisses her back with everything he can.

Kisses her the way their first kiss was and their second kiss could've been. Kisses her in thanks and awe and for every second he's spent wondering about this. About the real Amanda Clarke. About them together.

She pulls back again, and he just shakes his head, mumbles, "Not enough." Catches his breath. "A bit more."

Then they're kissing again, and it's harried breath and urgent. A stolen moment in a police station in the middle of the night.

Hosko clears his throat from behind them.

An ending stolen moment. There's a groan, and Jack's not completely sure if it comes from him, Emily, or the both of them.

Emily takes a step away while Jack takes a second to compose himself.

She addresses Hosko. "I think it's best we go home now."

He cracks a joke. "Sure your boyfriend wouldn't mind?"

Jack's glare over his shoulder works well with the sigh Emily fires Hosko's way. Hosko clears his throat a second time and nods his head towards the ground. Well, Carl, standing on the ground, rubbing his eyes with his fists.

Jack turns and scoops up his kid again. "We'll cooperate as much as we can."

Hosko nods. "Just don't leave town. Even to go on another boat."

"Can do." Jack moves around Emily to hit the button for the elevator.

She nods her dismissal. "Good night, Detective Hosko."

"G'night."

The elevator opens, and Emily follows Jack in. She hits the button for the ground floor, then leans her shoulder against Jack's. Jack almost wants Hosko to follow them, to keep these moments coming where Jack doesn't have the time to think about all the reasons he should push her away.

Doors close. Emily lingers before shifting her weight away.

"Hell of an alibi," Jack says.

She grins. "Yeah, just don't tell Nolan. He'll never let us live it down."

Very true. Though, that might not be so bad. Emily's not so bad. Not right now at least.

"That speech," Jack hesitates, tries phrasing this in his head, "you, uh, made some good points in there. About this."

Her grin drops. Eyes hood. "Good points won't be enough for Charlotte."

"Maybe not, but they're enough for me."

She almost smiles. He meets her eye when she looks up.

"Thank you, Jack."

"You're the one who kept me out of jail."

Then the smile's back. "We seem to be making this an annual thing."

First Conrad's almost shooting, now the kidnapping - "What'll my crime be next year?"

"I'm sure we'll think of something."

Jack laughs. "Bet we will." Something that doesn't involve the Graysons, or revenge. Maybe a nice robbery perhaps.


End file.
